National Sources for Statistics

Data.gov – self-described “home of the U.S. Government’s open data … you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more.”

ChildStats.gov @ Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics – federal and state stats from multiple agency sources re children and families, including: population and family characteristics, economic security, health, behavior and social environment,and education.

Historic U.S. Census Data @ IPUMS USA (Integrated Public Use Microdata Series) – so-called “high-precision” samples of the American population drawn from thirteen federal censuses between 1850 and 1990.

Office of Minority Health @ Centers for Disease Control – has a national perspective and is a good source of general information about various populations and health issues; a useful source for data to support community outreach and education.

StateMaster.com – provides free summary stats for all states in the United States, drawing heavily on Census data and other public sources, along predictable categories (e.g., crime, health, housing, etc.)

State of the Nation’s Cities: A Comprehensive Database on American Cities and Suburbs @ Center for Urban Policy Research – database on 77 American cities and suburbs, brings together over 3,000 variables from a wide variety of sources, allowing easy comparability of indicators on employment and economic development, demographic measures, housing and land-use, income and poverty, fiscal conditions, and a host of other health, social, and environmental indicators.

American Community Survey (ACS) – now includes hefty, updated 2005 datasets by state, county and metropolitan-area data on poverty, income, and other measures (demographics, housing, school enrollment, immigration, and more).

See Census 2005 Data Tables available at ACS and Data Sets available at the Census Bureau’s American FactFinder site, for greater level of detail at both the state and sub-state levels for 2002, and for 2001 generally at state level only.

American FactFinder – tables and maps of Census 2000 data for all geographies to the block level.

Decennial 2000 Census Data Sets – knock yourself out with newly posted data sets with over 800 tables of social, economic and housing characteristics for the United States, individual states and local counties, including California and all its counties.

American FactFinder and Census 2000 – 150-slide PowerPoint presentation reviews key aspects of the Census and how to exploit what is available at American FactFinder site, by Grace York at the University of Michigan (October 2004).

Resident Characteristics Report – summarizes general info about households residing in Public Housing, Indian Housing, or who receive Section 8 assistance; includes demographic data from state level, congressional district, county, HUD field office, and Housing Authorities; plus you can make graphs and the other geeky data stuff.

Housing Planning and Statistics @ California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) – offers statistical info including the “Raising the Roof” update of California’s housing plan loaded with statistical appendices and more, plus links to regional government associations providing local data.

Resident Characteristics Report – summarizes general info about households residing in Public Housing, Indian Housing, or who receive Section 8 assistance; includes demographic data from state level, congressional district, county, HUD field office, and Housing Authorities; plus you can make graphs and the other geeky data stuff.

Rental Housing for America’s Poor Families: Farther Out of Reach Than Ever (2002) @ National Low Income Housing Coalition – side-by-side comparison of wages and rents in every county, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), combined nonmetropolitan area and state in the United States. For each jurisdiction, the report calculates the amount of money a household must earn in order to afford a rental unit based on the generally accepted affordability standard of paying no more than 30% of income for housing costs.

Welfare Statistics

Research and Development Division @ California Department of Social Services – download data re California’s CalWORKs and other public assistance programs, including:

Food Security in the United States @ USDA / Economic Research Service (March 2002) – food “insecurity” would say it better in latest USDA data showing 33 million Americans (13 million children and 20 million adults) live in families that suffer from hunger or live on the edge of hunger.

Health Statistics

AskCHIS 2.0 @ UCLA Center for Health Policy Research – includes access to California Health Interview Survey data, provides statistical analysis of a wide range of health topics, and then generates the results as a bar chart, pie chart or an Excel spreadsheet.